The proverb “Every road leads to Rome”
is used to symbolize that a person can succeed in whatever profession he
or she chooses and is well known for that. However, the name “Rome”
is the origin of the creation of myth and demystification.

In the shared culture of the old world, the most famous and best documented
piece is the “myth of Rome’s
creation.” The earlier translation currently
available can be found in the “Histories”
written by Fabius Pictor and “Purnica”
by Naevius. The myth tells the story of how Aeneas brought a group of refugees
from Troy to the Latin seaside. A few centuries later, the throne was passed
to Numitor and Amulius. But Numitor’s daughter
was allegedly pregnant by the god of war, Mars, and gave birth to twin
boys by the name of Romulus and Remus. Obviously, the two authors told
different stories about the origin of Rome. One is a copy of the existing
legend, while the other is a mixture of two different stories. They are
the story of Aeneas and the story with the addition of the twin brothers
of Romulus and Remus. According to the first story, Rome was created by
immigrants from Asia Minor. But the second story indicates that Rome owed
its origin to a Latin People. However, the earliest recorded history in
Greece ignored both of these legends and attributed the construction of
Rome to a person named Rhomer or Rhomos. By 400 B.C., Greek people knew
more about legends surrounding Rome. We therefore have some information
closer to the ursprunglich. For example, according to Alcimus, Aeneas had
a son called Romulus. His daughter Alba gave birth to a son called Rhomos,
who was the builder of Rome. According to Callias, a woman from Troy named
Rohme was married to the King of the Latin State. Their sons, Rhomos and
Rhomylus, built a city and named it after their mother. As a result, the
story of the twin brothers seems to linger between legends about Rome and
the guesses by Greek historians.

The issue of whether scripts of the New Testament from ancient Greece
was the ursprunglich ushered in the research and development of Text kritik.
This set the foundations for German scholars of Text kritik in developing
their methodology (such as criticism of Bible scripts, criticism of formats,
criticism of editing and criticism of the source of data). The role of
Die Ursprunge der Textkritik als wissenschaftliche Disziplin as the origin
of academic research is related to the kritik of Homerische Epen. Poetry
readers occasionally changed some of the words when reading aloud contents
from Ilias and Odysee to express their own original thoughts. As a result,
the number of early versions of Homerische Epen grew. Later on, there were
official versions of Homerische Epen that were different from the versions
popular in the private sector. This started the big debate of the originality
of Homerische Epen. In 450 B.C., Aristoteles also published a version for
his student Alexander den Grossen, commonly called ”?
?k ν?ρΘηκοs”.

Thus, the adoption of scientific methods to discriminate the contents
of Homerische Epen started in the Greek times. This research of Text kritik
was conducted in the famous Alexander Library. The librarian at that time,
Zenodutus (274 B.C.) wanted to restore the Homer Text and made four types
of revisions to the scripts of Homerische Epen: (1) Deletion of the scripts
he felt was falsified; (2) Circling suspicious Variante; (3) Rearrangement
of the order of scripts; (4) Incorporation of new Variante that was uncommon
at the time.

Certainly, this research methodology of Text kritik directly influenced
the scripts of New Testament written in ancient Greek. Similarly, to discriminate
whether the scripts were original also led to discourse among scholars
of Text kritik for almost half of a century. The script kritik method used
in editing ancient Greek scripts mainly involves two steps, i.e. selection
and proofreading. Selection is the step to examine all data available and
select the best part as the main text of the script. The purpose of proofreading
is to delete mistakes that can be found in even the best manual copied
versions. The German scholar at the end of the 18th century,
Johannes Jokob Griesebach (1745~1812), established a solid foundation for
the kritik research of New Testament script from ancient Greece. The kritik
version of ancient Greek New Testament most commonly used by the academia
and the religious world in Germany was the “Nestle-Aland,Novum
Testamentum Graece”. They also established
a set of kritik system and standards to categorize the year and grades
of ancient manual copies and translated copies, thus providing an excellent
academic tool for those interested in Text kritik in generations to come.

Take the script written in “ΚαΤαλογ?αν,16:19”
for an example (see attachment for the kritik version of the script and
ancient manual copy P75 from the Third Century):

Text：πολο?σcοs

Variante ：πολο?σcοs
OVOMατc ΝΕUηS

In the Variant, “OVOMατc
NEUηS”(the name
of Ninivi) was added in the ancient manual copy P75. This Variant was created
by the writer of the manual copy P75 to satisfy the need of readers in
the Third Century. The writer added the name “ΝΕUηS ”(Ninivi)
to let readers understand the name of the rich landlord (πολο?σcοs).
The writer obviously knew the tradition of “ΝΕUηS ”
because the name (ΝcνΕUηS)of
the rich landlord (πολο?σcοs)
was mistakenly written as (ΝΕUηS),
missing the alphabet “ V ”.
The theologians in Taiwan insist that the landlord’s
name be called “tax collector”.
I can only say that it is only an added name not related to the original
text.

Ⅱ. Myth and interpretation

Renowned German scholar, Rudolf Bultman, proposed the theory of Entmytheologisierung
at the beginning of the 20th Century. In simple terms, the theory
proposes to represent the facts wrapped in a myth. Bultman believes that
“Entmytheologisierung”
is a method of interpretation studies. Under any circumstances, the interpretation
of a content must ask this: “Was ist es urspr?nglich?”
(What is the original meaning?). For example, anthropologists can explain
the social and religious significance of the “facial
tattoo” of aborigines. If we further ask the
“urspr?nglich”
of “facial tattoo,”
and without the analysis of Textkritik, Literaturkritik, or redakitioskritik,
it is possible that no one scholar dare answer this question. Therefore,
Bultman divided history into two types: (1) Historie, i.e. the facts of
past events; (2) Geschichte, i.e. history with interpretations. Bultman
believed that myth could not be explained by reason, but only by new myths
that had been changed in forms. H. J. Rose once said,”
Scientists and mythmakers can both present an answer to why it rains. But
the answer provided by myth makers takes the form of a story.”

Ⅲ. Political myth and mythmakers

Political scientist Henry Tudor maintains that political myth tells
stories of a political society and has the objective of becoming a clear
explanation of an event. It is a story told to support a certain practical
purpose. As long as it is treated as a real story, it is successful. Thus,
Tudor does not deny that when presenting argument for a myth, mythmakers
are either lying to themselves or have the intent of lying to the public
at the very beginning. In other words, a myth is a story and the dramatic
description of an event. It has a protagonist, story layout, a beginning,
a middle section and an end. Mythmakers do not create facts. The facts
that they interpret are already present in the social culture that they
belong. What makes their interpretation a myth is not the contents but
the dramatic form and the fact that it is used as a discourse of reality.
A myth can only become a discourse of reality when it is believed to be
true. Political myth is always the myth of a group of people. Its hero
or protagonist is not an individual, but the random grouping of a certain
tribe, people and ethnicity. Myth is a very simple historical phenomenon.
If we want to understand the original meaning of a myth, we’d
better pay close attention to the original situation (Sitze im Leben) and
environment in which the myth is first created. We should ask exactly what
Bultmann asked, “Was ist es urspr?nglich”,
not the story and interpretation that wrap around a myth.

Ⅳ. The myth and phenomenon of aboriginal
image

From 1900 on, the images of aborigines were first used in political
promotional films. Later on, film productions on aboriginal themes added
the connotations of many myths and present these themes in the dramatic
form of a story. For instance, in February 1907 the Japanese produced a
film entitled “Introduction of Taiwan”.
The purpose of the film was to introduce to the audience in Japan the success
of colonization of Taiwan. Aborigines were treated as the example of success
of the aborigine managing policy by the Japanese colonization government
of taming the “local aborigines”.

In contrast, the film shown in October 1986 entitled “From
Tangshan to Taiwan” represent the mainstream
media report at the time that widely popularized the success of Chinese’s
immigration overseas in China’s recent history.
It is a film about the roots of Chinese people and the blood and tears
shed by Chinese pioneers in new colonies, where Wu Sha became the pioneering
hero of the Han people. However, the film ignored the beginning of the
tragic fate of aborigines in Taiwan who were forced to leave their homeland.
It is similar to the film entitled “The hero
of Alishan” directed by Sakata (阪田具隆)
in 1927. The film is said to have based on the original novel by Akira
Iwasaki (岩崎昶) and a copycat of the story
of Indians being conquered and eliminated by White intruders told in a
U.S. Western movie.

Starting from 1923, the Aborigine Management Section in the Japanese
Governor’s Office produced films on the subject
of prohibiting facial tattoos and establishment of schools for aborigine
children for the purpose of changing the habits in aboriginal life.

In contrast, the film “Hero Wu Fong”
produced by Taiwan Provincial Film Production Studio in 1932 was a drama
about the elimination of the customs of beheading to support the government
policy of taming the aboriginal tribes. It is a production with a purpose
and serious intentions.

In 1925, the Japanese Governor’s Office
sponsored the stage performance of “Hero Wu
Fong”, which won the applause of Miya Kitashi
Rogawa (北白川宮親王) and created quite a
stir in Taipei. Wu Fong was formed under official intentions into a stereotypical
myth to serve as an excuse and means of the Japanese policy of “educating
the aboriginal tribes.”

After the war ended, the Taiwan Provincial Film Production Studio (Taiwan
Studio for short) carried on the legacy from the Japanese colonization
in terms of the contents and style of news report films produced between
1946 and 1983. It served as a means of policy propaganda by government
authorities and of whitewashing. For more than 38 years, Taiwan Studio
made a total of 1317 news report films. Among them only 12 films mention
news related to the aborigines, representing less than 1%. It is obvious
that the subject of aborigines is widely ignored. In particular, in the
film entitled “improvement of the life of aborigines
in mountainous areas,” the entire narration
is accompanied by music of other ethnic background. The film reflects that
government’s educational policy of forcing
aboriginal people to accept the Han culture, which results in the loss
of the native tongue and culture of the Yamei Tribe.

Mythical meaning was added to the above films for political purposes.
After the war, the government carried on the myth of “Wu
Fong” created by the Japanese. The Han people
also created their own myth of “Wu Sha”
when they developed Yilan. The two politically motivated films about the
myths of “the two Wu’s”
prove that presence of the stereotypes of the aborigines in the mind of
the Han people. In addition, the film entitled “It
doesn’t matter if it lights up”
shot in the island of Lanyu by a private film producer mimicked the model
seen in the foreign film “上帝也瘋狂”.
The film basically laughed at the “backwardness”
of the Yamei Tribe on the basis of a sense of superiority of the Han people,
and caused tremendous anger among the Yamei Tribe.

The rapid growth of the electronic media in Taiwan since 1980s and the
film exhibitions of outstanding foreign documentaries prompted the beginning
of a more dramatic presentation among Taiwan’s
television production. In 1984, Public Television Services leased time
from the three broadcast TV channels to air their programs. They also tried
to present the cultural aspects of the aborigines in their programs. At
the same time, the academic chose to document the social and cultural phenomena
of the aboriginal people in a more academic approach. As a result, there
were significant changes in media representations of aboriginal images.
The aborigines also started to become the subject that pursues the media,
instead of being the object being filmed. Then in July 1998, Public Television
Services opened its own channel and aired exclusive programs on the themes
of aboriginal culture and tribal life.

Ⅴ. Myth and analysis of aboriginal images

To further analyze the myth of aboriginal images, we can take two films
as our case studies: “Hero Wu Fong”
produced by Taiwan Studio in 1932 and the “Bell
of Shayin” produced jointly by Songchu Film
Productions and Manshu Eiga (滿州映畫協會)
in 1943.

I. The story of “Hero Wu Fong”

From changes made to the source of literature regarding the “legend
of Wu Fong”, a number of “story”
plots were added during the Japanese Occupation. There were also additional
data such as the dates of Wu Fong’s birth and
death and his family tree including his parents and offspring. The image
of Wu Fong was recreated into a respected personality by the Chou Tribe.
The theme of the “story of Wu Fong”
was shifted into the sacrifice of Wu Fong in exchange of the elimination
of the horrible habit of beheading among the Chou Tribe. The shift fully
reflects the author’s manipulation of the story
plots and intentional revision by adding “historical,
rational and conscious”“story”
(suspense) plots to Wu Fong’s story. However,
the many story (suspense) plots added by the author lack the explanation
of their original (urspr?nglic) source, and are considered a falsified
version. Nevertheless, the Historical Research Commission of Taiwan Province
(台灣文獻會) explained that “Although
the facts of Wu Fong’s story can not be traced
in any documents or records, it does not hurt to retain his legend of “sacrificing
himself for righteousness” because it is for
the good of the country and people.”

II. The story of “Bell of Shayin”

On September 27, 1938, a Taiya Tribe girl from the Liyohen village in
Nanau, Yilan named Shayon Hayon helped carry the luggage of the teacher
named Masaki Takita (田北正記) from the school
in her village from the mountains in a storm. She fell off a narrow wood
bridge over the Wutanan River. Two days later, there was a headline on
the “Taiwan Daily News”
of September 29 that read “Aboriginal woman
fell off to a river and missing.”

In an article entitled “Sad stories of the
aboriginal world after the war” written by
Kanahara (加奈原) published in the “Journal
of Taiwan’s Patriotic Women”,
Vol. 112, it was further reported that Shayin was the deputy leader of
the Girls Youth Legion and that she had greater patriotism than the general
public.

Two years later, the 18th Governor, who had just assumed
the position for five months in 1941, gave the Liyohen a bell inscribed
with the words of “Patriotic Girl”
and “By Taiwan Governor Kiyoshi Hasegawa (長谷川清)
in April of 1943”, which was later referred
to as the “Bell of Shayin”.
In the same year, an article published in the journal of “Friends
of Aboriginal Management”, Vol. 117, also added
a detail that Shayon was carrying a “Japanese
flag” at the time of her accident.

Starting from May 2, 1941, a Japanese painter by the name of Homosuke
Shiotsuki (鹽月桃甫) painted pictures featuring
Shayin as the theme. An article in Taiwan Daily News of October 9 in that
year reported that another painter by the name of Seigi Horita (堀田清治)
offered a painting featuring Shayin as the theme to Governor Kiyoshi Hasegawa
(長谷川清).

In June of the same year, the Columbia Record Company launched a song
called “the Bell of Shayin”
that became extremely popular throughout Taiwan. A Taiwanese writer by
the name of Wu Mansha also wrote a novel entitled “Bell
of Shayang” to praise the patriotism of Shayon.
As for the description of the event itself, the novel told the story of
Shayon trying her best to hang on to the Japanese sword of her Japanese
teacher when she fell off the river. According to the novel, Shayon was
saved from the river but died after writing her name on the Japanese flag.

The series of media events represented the concerted efforts by means
of such media as movie, literature, novel, poetry, songs and paintings
to recreate Shayin as a patriotic girl who sacrificed her life for her
mother country of Japan under the historical background of the “holy
war” in progress at the time.

After the war ended, Taiwan transformed from a former Japanese colony
into the Republic of China. The once famous event of a patriotic girl named
Shayin faded into the public sector of solitude and silence. To eradicate
the “Japanese”
assimilation and achieve the integration process of “Chinese”
assimilation, remnants related to Shayin began to be eliminated. First
of all, the Bell of Shayin went missing. Then the memorial stone tablet
located by the Wuta Road was sabotaged. The words of “patriotic”
and “Shayin” were
scrubbed unintelligible from the Shayin epitath bearing the title of “Site
of the Patriotic Girl Shayin’s fall”.
Besides, the song about the patriotic girl, “Bell
of Shayin”, was replaced by Chinese lyrics
under the title of “Moonlight Serenade.”

Then in 1990, the historical even of Shayin received renewed reflections
and discussions. Wanyau Chou wrote an article entitled “The
story of Bell of Shayin and its Repercussions”.
In 1993, the Council for Cultural Planning and Development and the National
Institute of Film Documents hosted the annual Cultural and Arts Festival,
and held an exhibition called “The exhibit
of images—aborigines in images”.
In 1994, the Museum of History of the Yilan County held an exhibition called
“The myth of the Bell of Shayin—Uncovering
a sealed page in the history of aborigines”.
In 1998, the program of Public Television services, Aborigines’
News Magazine, produced a program length report entitled “The
death of Shayon and the mythical bell”, which
disclosed the significance of the myth surrounding Shayon’s
death. In addition, the NHK Television in Japan told a new story about
“respect for teachers”
based on the historical events related to Shayon and added yet another
new interpretation of the “Shayon event”
by the modern Japanese people.

The simple event of Shayon falling into a river 61 years ago was shrouded
in political myths for almost half a century and only given its true significance
only ten years ago. But how does the Taiya Tribe in Nanau nowadays interpret
the “Shayon event”?

The purpose of the production of the movie “Bell
of Shayin” in 1943 was not to present the historical
truth of the Shayon event nor of a documentary nature. Instead, the Japanese
colonial government wanted to use the story of Shayon to beautify the policy
propagation of the colonial government. The story not only had the function
of “taming” the
aborigines, but also became the myth in support of so-called Japanese “holy
war”. The movie “Bell
of Shayin” itself was no longer the description
of a true story. It simply used the story as an excuse or a means of interpretation
to complete the reconstruction of a myth. Thus, the many works related
to Shayon after the war, regardless of fictional novels or movies and paintings,
all made the truth of the accidental fall of Shayon vaguer and vaguer.
This is what Rultamann referred to as “Entmytheologisierung”,
that is, the unwrapping of the mythical layer and interpretations wrapping
around the truth. After aborigines have unraveled the mythical layer, how
does the Taiya Tribe reinterpret the story of Shayon and recreate a modern
story, giving new meaning? Let me explain the story of Shayon’s
fall again. She “died on the job”
for transporting the luggage of a policeman “on
duty”. We may eliminate the subject of nationality
and connotations of the political myths. Focus the interpretation instead
on Shayon’s fall due to “fully
fulfilling her duty”. Her spirits in “fulfill
one’s duty by sacrificing one’s
life” as the new interpretation should be well
received by her tribesmen. Certainly, the Taiya Tribe will also give new
historical meaning and new interpretation to the Shayon event.

The truth surrounding the event of Shayon’s
fall was wrapped by myths for almost half a century. Now we can understand
the truth and explain it through relevant historical evidence, official
documents and testimony by witnesses. However, the approaches used by mythmakers
are different. We discover from the above discussions that the approaches
always started out from a practical perspective with a purpose or as a
propaganda for a certain action plan. Therefore, when a myth is considered
as truth, it is because the myth gives meaning to people’s
practical experiences, not because of proofs from historical evidence.
Once people find that the environment has changed, their perspective in
reality changes along with it, and they start to rearrange the meaning
of the myth. However, we have to ask the question: Who is the mythmaker?
What are his political, social and cultural connections to those receiving
the myth? The answers to this question should reveal the motives behind
the mythmaking.

After Taiwan’s restoration, the previous
“Shayin” myth was
given a new mythical meaning in the new environment because its practical
purpose was changed. Hence, mythmakers began to revise the original meaning
into a new purpose. They even resorted to the destruction of the epitaph
or artifacts related to the old myth to reach the goal of recreating a
new myth.

Ten years ago, the myth of the images of aborigines started to be widely
reflected and discussed. Some even tried to restore the original meaning
of the myth. However, the subject of aborigines as it appears in the coverage
of the mainstream media is still very much criticized by aborigines themselves.
During the workshop for aboriginal journalists held at the UN senior specialist
office in Madrid between 26 and 28 of January 1998, a general argument
surfaced again and again. That is, the participating aborigines generally
felt that the mainstream media rarely reflect the will of the ruling class.
Instead, they only report a story after conflicts or tragedies have occurred
or about the folk rituals of aborigines. The presentation of issues related
to aborigines in the mainstream media is often placed in the section with
low viewing rate or the entertainment section. The mainstream news media
hardly give proper attention to and report of the issues that they really
care about. Thus, aboriginal journalists face the challenge of how to provide
interesting news to the general public without giving sensational reports.

We hope when the UN senior specialist office for human rights affairs
plans the next workshop for aboriginal media workers, it does not overlook
the rights of aboriginal media workers in Taiwan to learn from one another.
We hope that the office can open up an international aborigine information
system and network to provide the “news perspective”
of aborigines to the mainstream media.

Ⅵ . Exkurs

1.The myth of “Kausha Tribe

The term “Kausha”
carries the tradition of Japanese mythology and history. Using the term
“Kausha” to rename
a aboriginal tribe is meant to propagate the historical appropriateness
of Japanese rule of Taiwan. The Japanese renamed the aboriginal people
as the “Kausha”
tribe with the purpose to transform aborigines from “local
aborigines” into a “semi-civilized”
tribe, who would learn the new life as citizens of the Japanese emperor
through Japanese rule and transformation. Kausha tribe represents the outstanding
people with Japanese spirits. Under the mythical meaning of the design
of assimilating Taiwanese people into the emperor’s
citizens, the tribe was supposed to discard, allegedly at their own will,
the mentality of being discriminated against. They were, supposedly, to
become citizens of Japan, fight for the nation of Japan and eventually
sacrifice themselves at the battle lines in Southeast Asia. Therefore,
the term “Kausha”
tribe signifies the successful example of Japanese colonization of Taiwan,
and an important process of transforming the aborigines into citizens of
Japan.

2. The myth of the “Restoration of Taiwan”

After Taiwan’s restoration, aborigines faced
new challenges in a new environment. They were forced to give up the Japanese
language they already used for some time, their Japanese surname, Japanese
spirits and habits. Now they had to learn mandarin Chinese all over again,
adopt Chinese names. Even the names of their villages were replaced by
teachings from the late R.O.C. president, Chiang Kai-shek (e.g. Jen-ai
Village, Hsin-yi Village and Ho-ping Village). Even the term of “restoration”
was politically mystified by calling what should have been an “occupation”
the “restoration”
through “cheating”
and “letting mistakes be mistakes.”
The commander of the Allied Forces, McArthur, mistakenly believed that
the “Cairo Declaration“
and the “signing“
of it announced on December 1, 1943 already returned “Taiwan”
to the hands of the “Republic of China.”
In fact, the “Declaration”
was not signed by any party. I believe that Chiang knew very well that
the declaration was actually a “news communique”
without any signature. However, he took advantage of it and changed an
“occupation” into
a “restoration”
to give his action the connotations of a “political
myth.”

VII. Appendix

P75 Manual copy, Third Century, currently kept in the 哥樂尼World
Literature Library in Geneva.